Luck: E-rank
by Jam Cow
Summary: Fighting Gilgamesh sucks. Getting tossed into a different dimension and being forced to save the entirety of humanity sucks even more. But what sucks the most: is the infuriating summoning system that won't give him S a b e r .
1. Prologue

Gilgamesh growled when the black vortex, which had manifested next to his hip, started to quickly expand and engulf him.

"You malformed abomination!" he bellowed, "You think you can swallow me-"

His next words were muffled when the vortex proceeded to swallow him.

"Mmhph! Mmpphhh!" despite his predicament, Gilgemesh's eyes were ablaze with fury, refusing to accept this ludicrous way of perishing.

Throwing his hand forward, he used _Enkidu: Chains of Heaven_ and latched onto Shirou to anchor himself. He tugged on the chains, managing to slightly drag out his head and arm.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Gilgamesh had miscalculated, not taking into account how exhausted his opponent was, which resulted in Shirou tumbling forward, en route to crash into him.

Which wasn't part of the plan.

"Wait! Stay where you are!" Gilgamesh shouted

And if he were able to, Shirou would have wholeheartedly obliged, but at the moment had little means to stop himself.

Luckily, Archer was there to save the day, shish-kebabing Gilgamesh's head with an arrow, before rushing forward to grab his alternate younger self- oh wait no, he tripped.

"Oh shi-" was the last thing Archer said before colliding into his younger self and plummeting the both of them into the void.

* * *

(Later)

"What the hell did you do!?" Shirou roared, his voice echoing throughout the vast expanse of his Unlimited Blade Works, where he and Archer had found themselves in.

"How are you even here? I specifically remember you being _impaled_ by fifteen different swords the last time I saw you. Why are you still alive?"

"People don't always die when they are killed." Archer stated

"That doesn't make sense!" Shirou snapped, Archer's blasphemous statement going against his very soul.

"You don't make sense!" Archer glared, "What were you thinking, getting dragged forward like that? You couldn't just hang on for like, ten seconds? Your incompetence is why we're both here."

"You're the one who pushed me! You tripped! What kind of servant even trips?"

And just when the situation was about to reach its breaking point-

*Boom*

Suddenly, a cloud of dirt kicked up to the side of them, where a voice boomed from inside it.

"Hello there-" the boisterous voice suddenly dissolved into hacks and choking noises.

"*Cough* *Cough*, Oh my god," the voice wheezed out, "Why do you have dust in your soul? I wouldn't have done my dramatic entrance if I knew people had dust in their souls."

Emiya Shirou and Emiya Shirou turned their heads to the sound of the coughing, where a bearded old man stood, leaning his weight slightly on a cane and holding a fist to his mouth.

_"Hwack!" _the old man proceeded to spit out a glob of phlegm onto the floor of Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works, the literal manifestation of his soul, before grumbling and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

While Shirou didn't know what to think of the man in front of them, Archer's face contorted into one of pure dismay, like he had sucked a lemon.

_"Fuck._"

* * *

(Later)

"So boy, how do you like the idea of saving the world?" Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, the practitioner of Second Magic, offered to Shirou

Shirou was confused.

"Don't do it. If you are ever going to listen to anything I say, do it now. If you get involved with that deranged troll right there, you'll regret it for the rest of your life." Archer said, his tone deathly ominous.

"You seem oddly concerned for me." Shirou couldn't help but note

"I couldn't give jack about what happens to you. But due to being within a fifty meter radius, I'm afraid that I'll end up being dragged along into whatever nonsense he has in store for you."

"Glad to see you care."

"I don't."

"That was sarcasm."

"I know."

"So have you come to a decision yet?" Zelretch interrupted, "I'll have you know that you don't have much time left."

Shirou cocked an eyebrow, "What, is this some sort of time limited offer?"

"No, I mean in the fact that you only have thirty more seconds before you get ripped apart and torn to shreds inside the void left behind by Holy Grail." the way the old vampire discussed Shirou's impending demise made it seem like he was talking about the weather.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that- wait say that one more time?"

"I said you have thirty seconds- well now twenty, before you get brutally mangled into holy grail feces."

Their surroundings rumbled, as if to confirm Zelretch's words.

"Oh." Shirou didn't even stop to think about it, "I guess it's time to save the world."

"Wait! You stupid piece of uterus poop-" Archer tried to protest

"Ah good! I knew you wouldn't disappoint me Emiya Shirou." Zelretch said in approval, "Now, hold on, let me make some changes so you fit right in with your new world." he then proceeded to twirl his cane and blast Shirou with a magic beam of energy.

"Gah! Son of a-" Shirou clutched his head in pain as a sudden influx of information crammed itself into his brain.

_Chaldea. Animusphere. Preservation of History. _

_Swords. Noble Phantasms._

_He was Emiya Shirou_ _Emiya Shirou __Emiya Shirou Emiya Shirou._

"What did you do to me?" Shirou grunted, his voice in a somewhat oddly higher pitch

"Well you have boobs now, for one." Zelretch gestured his hand over his chest and made grabbing motions.

Shirou mimicked the magician, and to his horror, when he reached up to grope his chest, his hand felt the distinct softness a female breast. And to make things worse, he could no longer feel the 'bone of his sword'.

"Now, have fun!" the vampire gave a thumbs up as he opened a portal behind the red head, before lightly punting her in.

Shirou Emiya made strangled screams as she fell into the abyss of space time.

Meanwhile, Archer watched in morbid fascination as the events unfolded, before getting an overwhelming urge to take a nap.

"Dumbass." he muttered

"What are you sitting there for?" Zelretch asked the servant, "You're going as well."

And much to his displeasure, Archer was kicked in too.

* * *

**I don't really have a _great _understanding of what the black void thing was in UBW. To my knowledge, it was an aftereffect to get rid of Gilgamesh after Rin and Saber destroyed the grail. If I got the whole thing premise of it wrong, you'll have to forgive me.**

**By the way, I know the protagonists are not _actually_ Shirou and Rin, just based off them, but I just wanted to explore the idea of 'what if they were?'.**

**Also I want me a beta. PM if you're interested.**


	2. Chapter 1

**"Wake up..."** a nudge to her cheek, **"Wake up..." **another nudge.

There was a gruff baritone voice, followed by scampering noises and more nudging.

Shirou mumbled irritably at the aggravating sensations, before lifting her hand to none too lightly bat away whatever it was distracting her sleep.

**"Augh! Son of a-"**

Shirou had a long day and needed her rest.

With the annoyance gone, Shirou crossed her arms under her head and formed a sort-of makeshift pillow, before proceeding to fall back to-

Suddenly, something slammed into her stomach with the force of a thousand suns.

"GAHUKH!"

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

(Later)

Shirou heaved heavily as she clutched her abdomen, coughing out a little saliva.

**"You ok?" **

She shifted her disoriented gaze to the side, where a fluffy white squirrel-creature greeted her vision.

"It feels like I was in a war, fighting one most powerful heroic spirits in existence before being forcibly tunneled into another dimension, only to wake up to a talking squirrel that drop-kicked me in the stomach." Shirou said

**"My name is Fou."**

"Did I mention that there was a talking squirrel in front of me?"

**"You can understand me?"**

"Are you even real?"

* * *

(Later)

Shirou sat up against the wall as she rubbed her head, trying to sort out the jumbled mess that was her mind. When Zelretch blasted her with that magic beam, gaining mammaries wasn't the only thing that changed.

There was a distinct disparity in her circuits, which were brimming with magical energy now, as opposed to her lackluster ones from before. Fighting experience and techniques she had not yet learned were ingrained throughout her nerves and muscles, while countless weapons and noble phantasms she had never traced before sat at the ready in her Unlimited Blade Works.

She was dressed differently too, in a uniform consisting of a white shirt and black skirt of some kind.

However, what was most disorienting, were the memories that weren't hers swimming around chaotically in her brain (causing a severe identity crisis).

She remembered a multitude of lifetimes that belonged to the other _Emiya Shirou's_ throughout the multiverse. Their histories, their achievements, the events that shaped those specific _Emiya Shirou's_ were all implanted into her very being.

Emiya Shirou's that have accomplished extraordinary feats, such as: fighting dead apostles, achieving the pinnacle over certain magecrafts, taming countless tsunderes and yanderes alike, becoming a master chef in a universe where everybody stripped every time they ate good food, becoming adept at evading federal authorities after falsely being accused of lewding lolis, embracing his inner masochist and becoming a slave to Alaya-

Wait...

* * *

(Later later)

**"You okay?"**

"Yeah, of course I am." Shirou twitched, "Why do you ask?"

**"You seem... distressed."**

Anybody would be. One body was not enough for a jillion sets of memories.

"No, I'm fine."

**"If you say so..." **Fou muttered

"By the way… I never caught your name. Or what you are exactly, for that matter. Do you have an owner?" Now that she thought about it, sleeping on the floor and then waking up to a talking squirrel was pretty strange.

Now sleeping on the floor and waking up to a purple haired girl calling her Senpai on the other hand…

"**My name is Fou."** the animal introduced himself, **"And while I don't have an owner, I have taken a particular liking to a purple haired girl that calls people Senpai."**

Neat.

**"By the way, aren't you one of the forty-eight master candidates? You have one of their mystic codes on."** Fou tugged at Shirou's skirt,** "Shouldn't you be preparing for the rayshift mission?" **

"One of the forty-eight-what now?" Shirou replied confusedly

**"Master candidates. You know, the people who are going to summon servants and travel across time?"**

"Now that you mention it..." Shirou muttered, rubbing her chin, "I think that might have something to do with why I'm here."

**"I'm pretty sure everybody is already in their coffins. I'm not sure if you're going to make it in time."**

"What? What do you mean by coffins?"

**"It's a capsule thing that you get into before you rayshift and travel through history."**

"But why are they called coffins though? Doesn't that sound extremely ominous-"

Suddenly, a massive explosion shook the surroundings, sending Shirou and Fou sprawling to the floor. The lights flickered out and the alarms blared loudly, as an emergency announcement was broadcast throughout the entire building.

_Emergency alert. Fires have broken out in the central power plant and central command room._

Well that didn't sound good.

Hastily pushing herself up, Shirou fired up her circuits and placed her palm onto the wall. Pressing her eyes shut to focus, Shirou uttered her aria.

_"Trace… on!"_

A detailed mapping of Chaldea manifested in her mind, giving her knowledge of the quickest route to the central command room. Lifting her eyes back open, Shirou turned to Fou.

"Hey Fou, right now there is a massive fire in the building with probably many potential victims in need of saving. So as our next course of action, I think-"

**"We should evacuate and not go towards where the explosion was?"**

"That right! We run straight towards where the explosion was!"

Shirou sprinted down the corridor, off to go and save as many lives as possible, with Fou reluctantly following after her.

* * *

Upon arriving at the scene, Shirou immediately set out to rescue anybody that was in danger, reinforcing her limbs to aid with her task.

"Well, I think I figured out why they're called coffins now." Shirou muttered, glancing at the slack bodies inside the capsule devices, as she hauled an unconscious Chaldea staff member towards an area that was safe. Well, 'safe' being relative compared to the places on fire at least.

**"Human! Over here!"** Fou barked over the raging inferno surrounding them. Gently setting down the staff member, Shirou proceeded to quickly head in the direction of where Fou was.

Rushing over bits of ceiling rubble and fire, Shirou finally came upon a gruesome scene that made her frown in vexation. Trapped under an immense slab of rock, was a lavender haired girl slowly bleeding out.

"Hey! Can you hear me?" Shirou crouched down next to the girl, her mind running through dozens of scenarios, trying to come up with a way to rescue her.

Slowly cracking open her eyes, the girl looked at the two in front of her.

"Fou...is that you?" she quietly whispered out, before turning to look at Shirou "And… who are you?"

Grabbing the girl's hand in an effort to keep her focused, Shirou introduced herself.

"My name is Emiya Shirou. What about yours?"

"My name? Well um… I guess you could say…" the girl weakly reached behind herself, before pulling a pair of shades out of nowhere. Placing them over her eyes, Mash proceeded to timidly smile at a somewhat puzzled Shirou.

"... I'm _Mash_ed."

_"Rayshift beginning in 3...2...1…"_

* * *

**Lol. Mash-ed. Get it? Under a rock.**

**Some things to note:**

**1) Upon writing the first chapter, I realized I didn't really know a lot about the Fate/Stay universe, so I took some time to read the VN for Fate/Stay and Fate/Hollow, while also delving into some of the other series written by Nasu.**

**2) Even after reading those however, there are some things I might not understand, so if you see something extremely wrong you can review or PM, and I'll try and fix it. Otherwise I hope you can overlook the minor things.**

**3) I'm going parody off some of the established fanfics already exploring the 'Shirou in Chaldea' concept, as you can see with the memory thing, which I learned from 'The Last Master' by Woona the Cat, while also inserting copious amounts of internet references here and there since I have no creativity.**

**4) While writing, I imagined Fou's voice to sound like the Pikachu from the Pokemon Bridged series by 1KidsEntertainment. But you can imagine it to sound like whatever you want.**

**5) Also I if you're interested in being a beta-reader, feel free to PM me.**


	3. Chapter 2

Shirou heaved out ragged breaths as she weaved her way through the desolate streets of a destroyed Fuyuki. Her body ran at speeds she had never achieved before, as she pumped massive amounts of magical energy throughout her limbs and organs. The smoke and fumes made it hard to see, and obstacles in the form of cars and building rubble proved difficult to navigate through. It was just how she liked her Fuyuki Fires; hot, stressful, and extremely PTSD-inducing.

Unfortunately, Shirou had bigger things to worry about.

_Trace on_

Her circuits crackled with magical energy as various weapons and noble phantasms immediately blueprinted themselves in her brain.

_Ending resonance of possession experience_

While she faithfully reproduced the history, composition, and design of each weapon, Shirou neatly slid under a fallen telephone pole that was blocking the street, before hurriedly pushing herself up and resuming her sprint.

_Processes completed. All projections stand by_

Fifty-two separate noble phantasms manifested in the air above her, primed and aimed.

_Ceasing decompression. All projections successive fire._

With a flick of her hand, each weapon shot behind her at supersonic speeds, becoming deadly missiles on route to eradicate their target. The subsequent explosion shook the ground violently, sending an immense amount of dust and debris flying up into the air.

Yet despite this, Shirou didn't stop to check whether or not her pursuer was dead.

" !" a deafening roar echoed the area as the dark figure of a hulking beast emerged from the dust cloud.

After all, defeating Heracles was never going to be that easy.

**"HOLY SHIT!"** Fou screamed as he painfully dug his claws into Shirou's shoulder, clutching on for dear life, **"What the fuck?!"**

Shirou gave a brief glance over her shoulder, before cursing and channeling more magical energy into her legs.

As for why they were being chased after…

* * *

(Two minutes ago)

Due to the fact that everything was on fire, the systems in Chaldea had hastily inputted a random set of coordinates into Singularity F, before rayshifting Shirou through space and time.

It was only by coincidence (*cough* E-ranked luck) that these coordinates just so happened to be at the same location of a lumbering, giant, meatball servant.

So when everything came to, Shirou and Fou had found themselves colliding smack dab into the hard, menacing back of Heracles.

Berserker, being the slightly temperamental servant he was, didn't seem to quite appreciate that.

* * *

(Present)

**"He's catching uuuuup!"** Fou's voice lurched in pitch as Shirou ducked into a nearby alleyway. After several twists and turns, Shirou emerged into a familiar street directly facing the Fuyuki bridge, near where the Copenhagen restaurant stood. Hopefully, the buildings between them would hinder Heracles somewhat and allow for Shirou to catch her breath.

"Tch." Shirou muttered, wheezing somewhat "I need a Saber."

If only Saber was here. Then she could just dump the problem on her. Speaking of servants, where was Archer? She hasn't seen him since getting punted into a portal by Zelretch.

_"Bzzt...ello? Bzzt! Hello? Can you hear me?"_ A distorted hologram suddenly appeared from the bracelet on Shirou's wrist.

_"Since when did I have that?"_ Shirou internally wondered, before hesitantly speaking to the bracelet, unsure how to go about using it since the most advanced communication device device Shirou was used to was Motorola flip phones.

"Uh, hello?"

The connection seemed to have stabilized as the static went away, revealing a rather young man dressed in a doctor's lab coat. He had a rather panicked expression as he frenzied through several papers out of a manila folder.

_"Uh...Shirou Emiya right? One of the forty-eight master candidates? My name is Romani Archaman. How are you doing?" _

"Um." She was currently being chased by someone who could squish her like a grape, "Not great. What about you Romani?"

_"Not great either! Anyway, right now you're the only available master candidate-OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT-"_

The doctor was cut off as another roar reverberated through the air. Not five seconds later, Berserker leaped from the top of a building landed onto the road in front of Shirou, cratering ground with the force of his jump.

To be honest Shirou was surprised she was still even alive at this point.

If she recalled correctly from her memories, the servant should have been able to catch her in no time flat. Magically enhanced limbs or not, it almost felt like the Berserker _here_ was _weaker_ compared to the ones she fought in the various Holy Grail Wars before...

All the sudden, an agonizing searing struck Shirou's eyes, causing her to gasp and clutch her face in pain.

_"My eyes!"_

**"Hey! You okay?"** Fou yelped, warily flickering his vision between Shirou and Berserker, who was slowly walking up to them.

Shirou frantically rubbed at her face, thinking that some smoke or dust particles had entered her eyes. After several moments, the pain went away, causing Shirou to hesitantly open her teary eyes back open again.

**"We need to…"** Fou trailed off as he stared at Shirou's face,** "What happened to your eyes?"**

Golden-brown was suddenly replaced with ethereal blue, as wisps of magic energy from her pupils slowly dispersed into the air. Yet, Shirou didn't seem to register Fou's words, transfixed on something else.

"Uh...Fou. Do you see that?" Shirou tentatively pointed at Berserker

**"See what? The servant that's been chasing us this whole time?"** Fou replied confusedly

"No, the thing on top of him."

**"His hair?"**

"No, not that."

**"Uh..."**

Unbeknownst to Fou, Shirou wasn't talking about the shaggy mane on top of Heracles' head. Instead, in Shirou's vision, a bizarre set of text and symbols hovered right above the giant, displaying:

**BERSERKER SERVANT Shadow Heracles LVL 10 HP: 10,512**

…

It seems like Shirou had inhaled too much fume, because it looked to her like Berserker now had an HP bar. Like a video game. Level 10?

…

Dammit, Shirou already had enough mental health issues as it was. She didn't exactly need to start hallucinating-

"MOVE, IDIOT!" a sudden kick to her abdomen sent Shirou flying (literally) out of her reverie, crash landing her onto a hill of a grass near the Mion river. She hacked out a bit of saliva, before her refocusing her vision onto the stranger that kicked her.

"Wha-"

And there, in all his GAR glory, brandishing the twin swords of Kanshou and Bakuya, stood a familiar figure in his signature black body armor and red overcoat.

**ARCHER SERVANT EMIYA LVL 10 HP: 2568**

The only thing was...the two chest mounds and long, flowy hair made Archer distinctly more..._feminine_.

"I swear to god, I should have shanked you when I had the chance." EMIYA muttered, seething as she stared up Berserker.

* * *

**A/N: This story broke 100 favorites a little while ago, which is incredibly amazing (for me anyway), so thanks to each and every one of you that favorited and reviewed.**

**And as for the thing with Shirou's eyes, I call it Mystic Eyes of FGO Perception. It's not the same as the Game Perception you see in other fanfics, so no getting stronger stats or anything like that. **

**It just sort of acts like an interface where Shirou will see some of the elements of the FGO game (e.g Health Bars, levels, etc.),**** which I will use as the basis of some jokes.**

**But I won't include everything (since I don't know how to introduce things like Buster, Arts, and Quick Cards).**

**If you have any question feel free to PM, and I'll try and answer.**


	4. Chapter 3

Despite her epic, _GAR _entrance, Archer was exceedingly unenthusiastic to fight Heracles head on. The last time she did that, Archer got ragdolled trying to stall Berserker in order for her younger self to escape Illya's castle (and hump Saber).

The mere thought of that grail war summoning made her die a little inside.

But this summoning however...

Archer twitched as she fiercely staved off the oncoming aneurysm.

* * *

(5 minutes ago)

Archer grunted when she was sent crash landing into the destroyed city of Fuyuki, the fall causing her long hair to whiplash across her face.

...Long hair that Archer didn't remember having.

Archer spat out the strands in her mouth before groping her chest, her expression twisting into one of dread as she came to a horrifying realization.

She too, was missing the 'bone of her sword'.

A note poofed into existence, slowly drifting down before Archer caught it with her hand.

_EMIYA,_

_If you and your younger self don't succeed in saving humanity, you're staying like this forever._

_~Zelretch_

"What the fuc-"

* * *

Never before in all her man slaving under Alaya had Archer been bereft the 'Excalibur' of her pelvic region. The only 'noble phantasm' she legitimately treasured above all else had been snatched away, now replaced with two chest mounds and an extra hole.

On top of that, she felt a distinct magical pathway between Emiya Shirou and herself, indicating she was the idiot's servant now.

There literally did not exist a pair of more incompatible individuals. They were like 'dog' and 'cat', or 'Lancer' and 'living', they just couldn't co-exist. In any other situation, Archer would have just lopped the head off her younger self and be done with it.

However, there were just some things that could not be compromised, her 'Excalibur' topping the list.

She _was going_ to take it back, even if it meant saving the entirety of humanity as the servant of her younger self.

Speaking of her younger self...

Archer glared at Shirou, who was still standing near the riverbank.

"Seriously? Berserker? Out of literally anybody you could have antagonized, you chose Heracles?"

Shirou was about to say something, but Berserker at that moment decided to lunge forwards, roaring as he brought his axe sword down upon Archer.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000

_**Battle 1/1**_

Silver, bolded text shimmered in the air, signaling the beginning of the battle between Archer and Heracles.

Or at least, that's what Shirou figured it meant. She was still trying to wrap her head around this whole game interface thing.

Shirou stared at the various texts and symbols that hovered in the air in front of her.

**BERSERKER SERVANT Lvl 10 Heracles HP: 10,512**

**ARCHER SERVANT Lvl 10 EMIYA HP: 2,568**

**Enemies Remaining: 1/1**

**Battle Menu**

**Master Skills**

Yeah, Shirou had no idea what she was looking at here. She cursed her lack of video game experience. Instead of playing video games like normal teenagers in their adolescence, Shirou was too busy cleaning archery dojos and failing high jumps, something that had come to bite her in the ass.

But perhaps…

Shutting her eyes, Shirou concentrated as she sifted through an amalgam of different memories that spanned over a thousand timelines. Surely, there had to be at least one Shirou that had experienced these types of games, right?

…

Nevermind. While there was indeed one Shirou Emiya that did play games, the games he played consisted of only eroge.

"_Shit." _

"_While you standing there uselessly doesn't surprise me, I'm going to need you to stop doing that." _A voice suddenly rang out inside her head

"_What the-" _Shirou whipped her head towards Archer, who was busy pelting Berserker with a flurry of arrows, "_You can talk in my brain?"_

"_Now that you're my... master," _Archer seemed to be somewhat strained when she said that word, "_We can communicate through a mental link."_

"_When was that a thing?"_

"_It's always been a thing, you just never did it before due to your sheer incompetence-"_

Archer was cut off when Berserker rocketed forward, nimbly twisting his body around before executing a spin kick that launched the red servant into a building.

The building caved in and the HP bar above Archer's head dropped to 1,954.

...

"_You okay?" _Shirou asked through their newly established telepathic communication.

Archer responded to her question by coughing out a glob of blood.

_..._

"_I can't beat Berserker on my own." _Archer grunted mentally after a few moments, having regained her bearings, "_We need to run."_

"_Uh, where?"_

"_If the information that Zelretch put into our heads is correct, then this a singularity, a major disruption in history meant to destabilize Human Order Foundations. Since we saw Heracles, we can assume that we're in the middle of a Grail War inside Fuyuki." _Archer explained "_And judging from the surroundings, the only thing could probably cause a singularity during this time period is the-"_

"_Holy Grail." _Shirou realized. The corrupted one.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Shirou huffed as she sprinted down the Big Bridge of Fuyuki.

The plan was relatively simple.

Archer would lead Berserker towards the east side of Fuyuki, while Shirou and Fou would run in the opposite direction towards Ryuudou temple. Once enough time had passed, Shirou would use a command seal to teleport Archer to her side, losing Heracles and giving them time to hopefully deal with the cause of Singularity.

Of course, they were being entirely too optimistic, since plans made by Emiya Shirou never work out.

Shirou froze when an oppressive presence manifested right behind her.

"Oh?" A dulcet voice hushedly whispered into Shirou's ear, "What is this? A survivor?"

Shirou instinctively traced Kanshou and Bakuya, whipping around to slice at whoever was behind her. Metal met metal with a loud clash before Shirou flooded her legs with a burst of magical energy to quickly jump away from the unknown assailant. Skidding across the ground, Shirou looked up at the individual who had snuck up behind her.

"...well shit." Shirou muttered, recognizing the servant.

Her appearance was slightly different from what Shirou was used to, but the long purple hair and alluring facial features struck a sense of familiarity in Shirou.

Medusa, the Gorgon from Greek mythology.

"Rider." Shirou said, taking care to avoid looking her directly in the eyes.

Rider raised an eyebrow, before smiling at the red head, amused. With a quick motion, she reached behind her head and pushed out her hair from under her hood. The lengths of purple hair shot out, transforming into metal chain links that wrapped around the surrounding bridge framework, trapping Shirou in a cage of chains.

She then purposefully spun her scythe, letting the bladed edge glint in the light of the surrounding fires.

"_Lancer." _she corrected

* * *

"_I have a problem." _Shirou stated

"_What is it?" _

"_Rider's here. Except she's a Lancer. And evil."_

Archer grimaced at the mental images that Shirou sent her. Fighting Medusa was a pain in the ass. Despite having fought her several times throughout her time as a counter guardian, the feeling of having your blood thickened before turning to stone was always unpleasant. Plus this one was a 'Darkened' version of the servant that was corrupted by the grail. Her personality was reversed towards the orientation of evil, making her even more troublesome.

"_Use the command seal-" _

A sudden feeling of surprise was transferred over the link.

"_Hey, what happened?"_

* * *

Shirou struggled as she caught Medusa's weapon between the cross of her two blades, trying not to buckle under the strength of the servant.

It seemed that despite the upgrades Zelretch had given her, fighting a servant was still a terribly hard task.

"_Archer!" _her command seal glowed, "_Come to-"_

The command was interrupted when an explosion struck the surrounding chains, melting a hole within the metal frame while buffeting both Shirou and Medusa with the force of the blast. Then an armored figure with a shield busted through, slamming into Medusa and knocking her away.

"Master! Are you alright?" the figure called out, standing protectively in front of Shirou.

Shirou's eyes widened.

"Mashed?"

The shield servant blinked before her face flushed in embarrassment.

"Ah sorry. That was a bad joke. Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Mash Kyrielight, Servant Shielder, at your service."

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**The reason why it took so long to write this chapter was due to a combination of being lazy, farming FGO, while also being dissatisfied with previous drafts I wrote for this chapter.**

**I think I am happy with this for now, but after getting some rest and looking at this with fresh eyes, I'll probably make some changes.**

**If there's anything that's glaring which makes this unreadable, feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to make changes. **

**There were a couple references and inspirations that I drew from other places.**

**-In the beginning, I referenced the Fate route in Fate/Stay Night, where Archer sacrificed himself so that Shirou, Saber, and Rin could escape from Illya's castle.**

**-****The game interface Shirou saw is pretty much based on the one in the Fate/Grand Order game, with the exception of NP bars, Command Cards, and other things which I found hard to incorporate. Hopefully this makes it easier to visualize.**

**There are some things that I used in the story that I am unsure about as to whether it's canon, fanon, or som****ething I just completely made up on my own.**

**-I made it so that Archer would have memories of her other grail war summonings (she has knowledge of the Fate, UBW, and HF routes and all her other summonings). I don't know if it's exactly like this, but I think there's at least some mention of her about knowing all her previous summonings as a counter guardian and servant.**

**-The telepathic communication thing wasn't something I remembered seeing in the anime or in the VN (maybe I missed it who knows), but there's an UBW abridged series on Youtube that where they made it so Rin and Archer had telepathy with eachother.**

**-The powers I make Zelretch use are mostly based on what I've read in fanfiction, so I don't know if he can actually do these things he does in this story. **

** There shouldn't really be any more mention of him, since I mainly just used him as a plot device to move the story forward. **

**-Concerning terminology, I'm using 'magical energy' as opposed to 'prana'. I don't remember 'prana' being used before in the visual novel or anime, so I'm just going to stick with 'magical energy' for now.**

**I think that's about it. If you like this story and feel like becoming a beta reader, feel free to PM, and then we'll hash out the details over discord.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**~JamCow**


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